Spark Creative

Biography

Spark Creative has assembled a team of highly experienced performers, trainers and businesspeople to best serve and amuse you!

Workshops:
Thinking outside the box is what we do for a living. We create hilarious performances on the spot, often without a script! Doing so requires skills like unbridled creativity, spontaneity and confidence, skills we teach you in our workshops.

We consult with you at length prior to the workshops to gather info about your firm - your goals, your services, your customers. We also evaluate how you currently generate ideas to most effectively develop our workshops.

Our team develops recommendations for areas of creative improvement for your company. We then build a series of customized exercises that focus on these areas.

The workshops consist of focused, hands-on exercises -exercises that teach skills like:
Creating safe environments to foster new ideas
Exploring new markets for your services
Connecting with your team and your customers
Building creativity, confidence and spontaneity
Using Humor effectively during idea sessions

After the workshop, we show you how to best implement our teaching throughout your firm. And we're always available to consult with you on an ongoing basis, and to create further programs as needed.


COMEDY PERFORMANCES:
Consultation. We consult heavily with you to learn your buzzwords, competition, concerns, characters.

Creation. We write a series of scenes around your firm: The show is completely based on your group!

Performance. At the performance, we also improvise, using audience suggestions to make up scenes on the spot! The audience is blown away! Your show is fresh, clean, exciting, funny - and based directly on your company! Audience members love the show because it deals directly with them and they help create it!

Biographies:
Al Samuels
Al has performed, written and taught comedy & creativity to corporations for over 10 years. Al founded Impro Comedy, offering shows and workshops for hundreds of clients, including GE, IBM and McKinsey & Co., and was Executive Producer at Cinemon, an innovative film/video production company. He holds an M.B.A. from Stanford and a B.A. from Dartmouth. He has trained and performed at Chicago's Second City, where he is a member of the National Touring Company, ImprovOlympic and San Francisco Bay Area Theatresports. At Stanford, Al worked extensively with the Management Communication Program, where he developed and taught courses in creativity and effectiveness in business communication. Al is the founder of Spark Creative and is writing Funny Business, a book on using humor to increase productivity in the workplace.

Jillian Tohber
Jill holds a B.A. and an M.B.A. from Stanford University. She has trained and performed with Bay Area Theatresports, LA's Groundlings Theater and the Stanford Improvisors. At Stanford, Jill performed in Mr. Jack Jar, Jr.,a full length improvised play and led workshops in improvisation and creativity. She has worked with McKinsey & Co., in strategic planning at the Walt Disney company and in creative in Bette Midler's All Girl Productions.

Bumper Carroll
A graduate of the University of California-Berkeley, Bumper trained and performed at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater as well Chicago's Second City, Improv Olympic, WNEP, Trap Door and Annoyance Theaters, appearing in such critically acclaimed shows as JTS Brown and Metaluna. His business background includes event planning for Andersen Consulting and training for Catapult Software Training.He has written, performed and conducted workshops for such clients as Motorola, Charles Schwab, Ameritech, Andersen Consulting, Merck, McKinsey and Co., The Boston Consulting Group, Vulcan Materials, Ispat Inland Steel, Bain and Co. and U.S. Gypsum.

Rich Talarico
Rich is a writing, performing and training comic wonderkid. At 22, he was one of the youngest players ever to tour with Second City's prestigious Touring Company before joining the Mainstage Company, where he is currently performing in their latest revue. Rich also appears in the critically acclaimed Armando Diaz Experience, as well as many other theatrical, film and national commercial venues. Rich has written, performed and led workshops at companies like McKinsey, Lotus and Motorola.

Tad Glauthier
Tad has used improv to teach teambuilding and creativity since 1993. At Positive Light Workshops, he developed a large body of exercises to improve corporate communications. He graduated from Stanford, where he conceived the innovative improvised adventure movie Title Wave. He has assisted in the design and execution of workshops for companies like Seagram and McKinsey & Company. Tad is a former associate of the Boston Consulting Group, and performs with Bay Area Theatresports.

Greg Nills
Greg is a member of the Second City's National Touring Company, as well as a professional stand up comic, recently placing as a Chicago finalist for the 1999 Aspen HBO Comedy Festival. A graduate of Michigan State University, Greg has lived in Chicago for the past several years where he has written and performed for the stage, radio and television. You may have seen him (or heard him) in spots for Long John Silvers, GBC Shredmaster, or the Chicago Bulls. He has worked in industrial/corporate comedy both with Second City Communications, and on a freelance basis, including corporate standup, teambuilding, and customized ensemble performance for such clients as Ameritech, Snapper, Chrysler, Andersen Consulting and Motorola. He wears many hats for Spark: writing, performing, producing video, conducting workshops and serving as musical director.
 

Titles

WORKSHOPS:
Thinking outside the box is what we do for a living. We create hilarious performances on the spot, often without a script! Doing so requires skills like unbridled creativity, spontaneity and confidence, skills we teach you in our workshops.

We consult with you at length prior to the workshops to gather info about your firm - your goals, your services, your customers. We also evaluate how you currently generate ideas to most effectively develop our workshops.

Our team develops recommendations for areas of creative improvement for your company. We then build a series of customized exercises that focus on these areas.

The workshops consist of focused, hands-on exercises -exercises that teach skills like:
Creating safe environments to foster new ideas
Exploring new markets for your services
Connecting with your team and your customers
Building creativity, confidence and spontaneity
Using Humor effectively during idea sessions

After the workshop, we show you how to best implement our teaching throughout your firm. And we're always available to consult with you on an ongoing basis, and to create further programs as needed.



COMEDY PERFORMANCES:
Consultation. We consult heavily with you to learn your buzzwords, competition, concerns, characters.

Creation. We write a series of scenes around your firm: The show is completely based on your group!

Performance. At the performance, we also improvise, using audience suggestions to make up scenes on the spot! The audience is blown away! Your show is fresh, clean, exciting, funny - and based directly on your company! Audience members love the show because it deals directly with them and they help create it!